comma] — IME y Land ecogni= were work. ssouri- e Las 1 local mules, n Mis- during mules Canal rleans. ed, ex- ceded. = bids, ie to ; many ed, A veneral stimu- ready les for Philip- re re- o their he De- te, the States $110,- wealth r the 00,0003 | recog- county divine but the m 10S wer to reatest of ‘life to > put » about st-mor=- es if. us man perfect other be con- pility.—— ‘Be id then manu- tore in or who years - . smok- eakfast antil he ‘month eek he he big- 1 stock der for rite to- » inches at the size ex- he re- smoke 1ean to le cigar "08S ock as will not if one 1 caged ic with 8,100, i on a the ap- a blue ts themy Jy mind s object ne dried 0 build Yellow Chicago st. cussing rge and ong the her had iscourse st Pres- ¢ whole t born old. —Al- The eld- Iam in ” point- 5 a wid- d sh at with » iS BEAUTY AND TEMPER. The greatest enemy to beauty is tem- per. The woman with a bad temper is by no means the worst woman in the world. She often has a very kind heart and a very strict conscience. Her tem- per itself sometimes lets so many of her evil thoughts out through her tongue that her nature is, after all, quite sweet and kind. But neverthe- less the fever of temper that burns within her does its work on her consti- tution. It shows itself, too, in the deep wrinkles just above her nose, the long lines at the side of her mouth and in the drooping mouth itself, with its spiteful expression. The woman who is always nursing her wrongs, wrongs herself more than anybody else could have wronged her. The evil, bitter thoughts within her shut out the bright ones that might come, and make her bad company. But worse still, they have a direct physical effect upon her system. Nothing can so ruin one's digestion as flying into a tantrum at the dinner table. The food taken in will not assimilate, and the appetite is lost. The heart is affected and the circulation is retarded. The nerves are so wrought up by a con- stant series of tantrums that the woman with a temper is invariably a thin, anaemic little thing, who jumps at the drop of a pin. After the woman with a temper has wrecked her own beauty and ruined her (ligestion she proceeds to ruin the lives of all around her by a constant nagging that drives her husband to the club and her children to the street. Her neighbors fear and hate her, and even the family cat runs when he sees her coming. The best way to cure bad temper is first to convince yourself that you are not really being wronged. Once you have gotten in tune with the world and feel quite certain that the uni- verse is better ordered than you could order it, you will cease expecting to reform the rest of your fellow men and thus be saved lots of disappointment. Try to believe in those about you and see all the good you can in them. Do not forever fancy they are trying to slight you. This is such a foolish mis- take to make. Have too much confi- dence in yourself to imagine anybody could slight or neglect you. Do not care too much what other people say and do. Go your own way and rejoice. No man, or woman either, is worth cultivating wrinkles and wear- ing out your digestion for. Don’t worry when things go wrong in the household arrangements or at a club meeting. Think how much worse it would be if you should have wrinkles about your nose in addition to your other troubles. Never be envious. Why do you care whether or not your neighbor dresses better than you? If you are quite sat- isfied with yourself, you will envy no- body. Envy is a form of confessed iveakness, a lack of self-respect. Be- sides, it is the meanest feeling you could possibly have. Lastly, if you can cure your temper in no other way, simply run and glance in the looking-glass while you are in the midst of it. That should cure you. SEPARATE WAISTS, ™ 'A white separate waist is necessary to the trousseau. If this waist is white it can be worn with any skirt and will look fresh and pretty as long as it is kept clean and whole. Here is a white silk waist, trimmed swith heavy lace embroidery. The yoke is of plain silk worked xvith eyelets. The collar is made of the lace, while the yoke is outlined with the same. The sleeves are out of the ordinary in that a strip of Valenciennes lace inser- tion begins just in front of the top of the shoulder and extends down the front of the sleeves to the deep cuff. The waist is suitable for matinees or any occasion which requires something a little better than the shirt waist. The hat orn with this waist is of shape, with a high band, ornamented white Napoleon straw, mushroom with tiny pink rosebuds. The top of the hat is trimmed simply with a broad bow of white taffeta ribbon. Such a hat will answer for church. The bride who finds dead white un- becoming to her will be wise to choose her wedding finery in a cream white. Her braids and hat trimmings may be found to match. If the girl who wears the separate white bodice is inclined to be short- waisted, let her always wear with her bodice a white belt; never a girdle matching the color of the skirts MATCHING FAD, The matching fad has been extended to gloves. The latest. glove is lined at the top with colored kid, in all shades. This gauntlet is supposed to be turned back over the wrist. Veils match, as a matter of course. It takes a very pretty woman. to look well under a mauve or a green gauze, but veils must match hats. A few white lace veils are seen, and many lace-edged net and gauze veils. About the only part of the costume that does not have to match is the shoes. Colored kid is not yet fashion- able, although the colored spat is an old story. The new models in shoes are rather odd, and women with extra high insteps will find some difficulty in being suited. The vamps of the new shoes seem to be extraordinarily long. Extension soles are seen on many walking shoes, and the swing sole, which came in a year ago, is on hand again, very much exaggerated. Some of the shoes make one look actually pigeontoed. Pumps in patent leather and Russian calf will be much worn. WHITE GLOVES PROVINCIAL. The short white glove is doomed, if one believes the verdict of those who live in Paris. Last season the fashion- able New Yorkers began to drop the glace white kid glove and take up suede ones in gray and black. Unless they wore a light gown they seemed to prefer soft black gloves stitched with white to all-white ones. Now fashionable Europe, led by Paris, has entirely discarded the two- buttoned white kid glove and has gone back to an early love, which is the mousquetaire tan suede, stitched in white or black. Already some of the fashionable women here have taken up the style. We are not wearing elbow sleeves in the afternoon and evenings for lunch- eons, card parties, driving and all so- cial occasions as much as they are abroad, but the fashion is gaining pop- ularity every day. With it, of course, comes the long, wrinkled glove. The fashionable length is just half way to elbow, and is adjusted to harmonize with the length of the sleeve. When a close cuff is worn, headed by deep ruflles just below the elbow, the suede glove is pulled up to the ruffle over the cuff. It is probable that few will regret the passing of the short white glove.—In- dianapolis News. GOSSIP, It’s terribly tantalizing the way a girl holds her lips in a kissing position when a lot of people are in the room. One of the mysteries of life is how a woman could bait a six-foot man and then go upstairs and faint because she thinks there is a mouse in the closet. One cannot help feeling that a wom- an should never be in the fashion over anything but her clothes, but our man- ners and morals are as subject to the passing laws of fashion as are our wardrobes. It is undoubtedly the fash- ion at the present time to be rich, or, if not, to appear so, declares Madame. Marriage no longer being the aim of every girl’s existence, she can be far more safely trusted, asserts the London World, to make friends with the other sex, and form her own opinions on love, than her predecessors, who saw possible husbands in all the men they met. : If you sce a quarrel coming and you know you can’t avoid it, don’t try to slide out, but face it boldly and with- out tears, and youll cut straight through it and leave the man feeling like a wave that has been chopped through the middle. Mrs. Charles M. Henrotin, before the Chicago Women’s Club recently de- clared women's organizations are “creating a bar rather than a bond between men and women.” She ex- plained that men have no time to de- vote to the subjects which the women are discussing, and that this fact is causing the men to think one way and the women another. The male architect is bound about by conventionality, says the Lady's Pic- torial. He is nothing if not conserva- tive; so it is that we may go through every house in London and scarcely find one which answers to the ideal home of woman. Men never seem to understand stairs, and apparentnly they never will learn the value of cup- boards to the opposite sex. There are those who think nowadays, says the Lady’s Pictorial, that women can get in anywhere and rule whereso- ever they like; but there is more su- perstition than fact in this. painting is concerned, woman has had the heel of man planted firmly on her neck. Of late years she has done splen- did work, and done it, moreover, with no hope of recognition from the Royal Academy. rt od (in ngs = & pr re (0 wear Lighter patterns in silk braid are the vogue. : : Novelties in both color and design prevail. - Horizontal tucks for the bottom of skirts are all very large. The keynote of good style in embroid- ered trimmings is the brodette anglaise. The long, graceful -lines of a sun pleated gown are always to be desired. Velvet bands and bows will give just the right touch to the costume of fancy silk. Fluted and ruffled braids are very much favored among fashionable gar- nitures. Transverse tucks make a very effec- tive trimming for tulle, Brussels net or chiffon. A three-inch Hercules braid, embroid- ered in silk in Persian colors, is a recent idea in dress garnitures. No matter what style of skirt is fashionable at the moment, accordion pleating is always in vogue. A very smart trimming for silk or fine cloth is a combination of Venise lace and brodette anglaise, 1 itual man. So far as THE PULPIH. A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY DR. M. E. HARLAN. Subject: Moral Amusement. Brooklyn, N. Y.—The Rev. Dr. M. E. Harlan, pastor of the First Church of Christ, Sunday morning gave another of his series of sermons on “Problems of Power For Plain People,” the spe- cial subject being “The Problem of Morally Healthful Amusements.” In February be offered prizes for best re- plies to questions covering the several problems to be discussed. He sent a printed list of these questions to sev- eral hundred people over the country. The sermon was based largely on the replies he received. The text was from Ecclesiastes iii:4: “There is a time to laugh and a time to weep.” Among other things he said: A few years ago, when a certain sup- posed ornament (?) to French society was asked what he did, he replied: “My business is to amuse myseif.” The history of the church is but a his- tory of the struggle between men and women like this Frenchman, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, those who have had no place for a smile in their religion. The world has never lacked the stoic and the sensualist. To the stoic the church has seemed very lax. To the sensualist,she has seemed too strict. The church always has stood and always will stand against the purposeless lives of both of these extremes. If to the mere pleasure seeker the church has seemed dogmatic and damnatory, we must remember that pleasure has been tyrannical and brazen and absurd. To him who wor- ships the god of pleasure, even other- wise harmless pleasures become dissi- pation till the world is full of the in- sipid-in heart and the vile in character and the purposeless in life. God did not make the world for mere amuse- ment, neither did He design that it should be run by the mere rollickers. Yet desire for food and clothes is mo more an indication of the physically robust and normal man than are the demands for laughter and amusement indices of the normal, mental and spir- The question is not, there- fore, one of amusements, but what kind and how much. ‘ No doubt that the: church has often been too closely allied with the stoic in exercising damnatory power respect- ing all forms of amusements. But be- fore we censure too severely let us take into account the conditions of her early history. The church began her mighty march of conquest in cities where all sorts of lewd and obscene amusements were the rule—Rome, Corinth, Ephe- sus, ete. In these cities the god of pleasure held such high carnival that industry was throttled and domestic life was weakened. Rome's great am- phitheatre, seating 385,000 people, could easily be filled with the morbid crowd that measured the worth of the amuse- ments by the fury of the entertain- ment and by the number of men and horses slain merely for their amuse- ment. The Emperor Trajan gave a three months’ show in which 10,000 men and 11,600 beasts were slain to amuse the very best people of Rome. Men would appear on the stage dressed gorgeously, when suddenly flames would burst forth all over their bodies and they would die writhing in agony of flames to the delight of the god of pleasure. Often Christians were forced spectators and often unwilling partici- pants in these brutalities. “Food and fun” was the hilarious cry of these amusement loving neople that haunted with its awful hiss the ears of the dying gladiators. The popularity of the ruler was measured by his willing- ness and ability to satisfy this cry for “food and fun.” An unwilling wit- ness to these debaucheries in the name of amusement, can we wonder that coming from such a birthplace. the church has at times been extreme? * * Gibbon teils us that in the days of Rome's worst famines she dismissed her senators and patrons of art, but to satisfy her god of pleasure she kept her vile vestal virgins and her 6000 dancers and singers of the lewd sort to amuse her as she staggered down to death or lay in the last convulsions of her dying hour. He will not criticise too harshly the church who has come with her down her Listoric way and has witnessed her death struggle with the professional dispeasers of amuse- ment, who, &s vile in purpose as the vestal virgins and who for financial gain will pander to the selfish and sensual moods of men till they leave those who otherwise would be noble men and women, mere derelicts on life's sea to the menace of the innocent ‘'voyagers. Even to-day under the speli of this pleasure good men will pay an uncom- plaining tribute. to her and do not hesitate to keep an open account with the dispensers of hilarious and sensu- ous amusements about dance halls and theatres, while at the same time they will become exceedingly poor and sav- ing if approached for “charity or philan- thropy or justice. The mere vagabond on the streets with his hand organ and monkey, or the grewsome and discord- ant “curb stone band” take in the rev- enue that belongs to laundryman or grocer, as though these mountebank dispensers of amusement were more deserving than they. Seeing how Rome amused herself to death and how Spain amused herself with her bull fights out of one of the first rank powers into the imbecile skeleton she now represents, no won-. der our Puritan fathers were fearful! of this pleasure god. He is blind who sees no inconsistence in the Puritan- ical bans on all forms of amusement till a man must be or at least appear miserable before he can be happy. But he to-day is worse than blind who docs not see, and especially in city life, that the god of pleasure has become daringly despotic and that she tyran- nically invades every shrine .of her devotees, and that no day is too sacred for her ribaldry and coarse jest. By pandering to the ruinous passion that would rather laugh than to think she would leave our fair land tenantless of the serious and the wise and fill it with a race of grinning pigmies. Any amusement that hinders me from doing my duty in my business during the week or makes me careless of my du- ties in the house of God or that would make serious thoughts a bore is to be avoided. Foster nor harbor no amuse- ment that cannot grow consistently: on the same stem with the Christian re- ligion. The godless Coney Island craze creates a morbid desire for Sunday amusement that as a vampire feeds fat on the vitals of our holy religion. I know there is danger of being mis- understood when I speak in detail. The man with a crabbed religion will think me too lax, while the man without conviction will think me too strict. With a zeal worthy of a better cause the church in the past has picked out a few amusements upon which it Las placed the ban and left others with no censure. It has decreed that danc- ing and card playing and the theatres were of themselves sinful and devilish and were worse than are “Jacob and Ruth,” or “Blind Man's Buff,” or the more widely practiced game of miser- liness or covetousness or “fibbing.” It is a hopeful sign that tke present tendency of the church seems to be to give more attention to the affirmative side of life rather than to act as Phari- saical judges on the negative. “Thou shalt not,” Is like a prop to keep a dying tree from falling, but it takes more than a prop to make a live tree grow. While the prop may have a place it is not nearly so important as some think. I am not a theatregoer nor ballroom frequenter, neither do I know even the names of the different “playing cards.” I feel that I have much better use for my time and money. Irom my ob- servation I have no hesitancy, however, in agreeing with those who replied to my question that the theatre and dance and progressive euchre and cards are menaces to the development of the Christian life. While of themselves they may not be more harmful than the other forms of amusement named, their influence seems to be against them. To the question: ‘Do you personally know people who frequent the theatres and ballroom and euchre parties who at the same time are also leaders in prayer meeting and the Sunday-school as soul winners, with a good, healthful influence?’ only two answered in the affirmative. Why? Does i: not indi- cate that there is something out of harmony with these particular amuse- ments and the healthful influence of the Christian life? Is it right to go counter to the testimony of people scattered over such a wide territory and from so many different denomina- tions. so long as we prize ou: religious influence? If we say the theatre as a whole is of good influence and a necessity for the men who are carrying the great bur- dens in the commercial and industrial world, then it falls short of its purpose, for the theatre is supported not by the Cargenies and Rockefellers, but mostly by those who cannot afford it and at the same time do what they ought to in philanthropy. Most of the support comes from the younger class, who as yet have no great burdens to bear. As to why those who frequent them are not real forces in Christian work, read the following: President Eliot, of Har- vard, says: ‘The influence of amuse- ments may be drawn from the quality of the popular theatre. The taste is for the trivial spectacles, burlesques, vul- gar vaudeville, extravaganzas, and the stage often presents to unmoved audi- ences scenes and situations of an un- wholesome sort.” One of the leading dra of the English press, Mr. Clement Scott, says it is “nearly impossible for a woman to remain pure who adopts the stage as a profession and that the stage has a tendency to disorder the finer sensibilities and to substitute hol- lowness for sincerity,” and adds: “I speak from my intimate experience with the stage running over a period of over thirty years.” Is it right to de- mand amusement at the enormous price suggested by these men in the ruin of the virtue of womanhood whose profession is to amuse us and thus like Rome's vestals let their virtue pay the awful price for our mere entertain- ment? If it is “nearly impossible” to adopt the stage and remain pure, then it is not Christian to demand that form of amusement on whose altars woman- hood is sacrificed. If the sacrifice was that of our own sons and daughters would we be willing to make it simply to amuse people? : The stage cannot be kept up without using somebody's daughters on the al- tar. Now the question becomes a dou- ble one—not only can I have Christian motives by frequenting the theatre, but is it right to ask that somebody’s daughter run the risk of such an awful teraptation as that to which the stage subjects them for my inére amuse- ment, granting that the stage has many of the most noble as its adornment and that many of our best people patronize it? Yet if the flame of the theatre pas- sion demands such fuel, can I afford to be a party to, the transaction? I would not appeal td prejudice nor act as judge over other men’s consciences nor pass hard ecclesiastical laws of disbarment against those ‘who might differ with me. I make my appeal to the heart's sense of justice to, make man or woman who may have enough of the Christly ambition to make the most of life by shunning that form of amusement of any kind which runs such tremendous risks. Are you asking me if a man is to be deprived of his rights just because he is a Christian? This is a good question over which to pause and ask for the sake of others not what are my “rights,” but what are my duties and obligations? matic critics A Robert Louis Stevenson’s Prayer. Lord, behold our family here assem- bled. We thank Thee for this place in which we. dwell; for the love that unites us, for the peace accorded us this day, for the hope with which we expect the morrow; for tite health, the work, the food and the %iright skies. that make our lives delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth, and our friendly helpers in this foreign isle. Let peace abound in our small com- pany. Purge out of every heart the lurking grudge. Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Offenders, give us the grace to accept and to forgive. TForgetful ourselves, help us to bear cheerfully the forget- fulness of others. Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind. Spare to us our friends, soften us to our ene- mies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavors. If it may not, give us the strength to encounter that which is to epme, that we be brave in peril, constant in tribulations, temper- ate in wrath, and in all changes of for- tune, and down {o the gates of death, loyal and loving one to another. As the clay to the potter, as the windmill to the wind, as children of their sire. we beseech of Thee this help and mercy for Christ's sake. — From the ! Works of Stevenson, SABDATH SCHOOL LESSON INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS FOR JULY I6. Sabject: The Suffering Savior, Isa. lii., 13 to liii., 12—Golden Text, Isa. liii., G== Memory, Verses 4-6—Commentary on the Day’s Lesson, I. The humiliation and exaltation of the Savior (vs. 13-15). The main idea of the whole passage is the unexampled contrast between the present and past degradation and the future glory of Jehovah’s Servant. II. The suffering Savior (vs. 1-3). 1. “Believed our report.” The report of the prophets and the gospel message. The world is still full of unbelief. To believe this report is not merely to as- sent to the truth of it, but to so receive it that the conduct will be influenced by it. The Jews did not receive the report, therefore Christ was to them without ‘‘comeliness.” “Arm of the Lord.” The arm is a symbol of power, as it is the instrument by which we execute our purposes. It is put for the power of God (Isa. 51: 9; 52: 10). It hence means God's power in defending His people, in overcoming His enemies, and in sav- ing the soul. “Revealed.” - Made known, seen, understood. The ques- tions in this verse are strong, but not total denials. 2. “For.” The prophet now gives the reason why the report is not believed. “He.” The " Savior. “Grew up” (R. V.). The point of vision is at the time Christ's sufferings were finished and He was entering into His glory. “As a tender plant.” He grew up small and of no reputation, from a family nearly extinct, like a tender plant springing unnoticed from its root hid in a barren and dry iand, out of which nothing great was expected. “And as a root,” ete. The sprout which springs up from a root. Such a sprout would lack strength and beauty. Both figures depict the lowly and unattrac- tive character of the small though vig: orous beginning. “See Him.” The former part of this verse refers to Hig birth and childhood, the latter to Hig first public appearance. “No beauty.” This refers to His state of abasement. 3. . “Despised.” By the rich and great. “Rejected.” “Forsaken of men,” renounced. ‘“We hid .. faces.” His appearance was such as.to cause men to turn their backs or hide their faces with disgust. “Men avoided Him as though He had a disease like the leprosy.” “Esteemed Hin not.” Failed to recognize His worth. III. The atoning Savior (vs. 4-9). 4. “Hath borne.” The meaning is that the consequences of sin fell upon Him, the innocent, and that He bore His un- deserved sufferings as a sacrifice on be- half of His people. ““Griefs.” “Sick- nesses.”—R. V., margin. To bear sick- ness is not to take it away but simply to endure it. Christ endured in His own person the penal consequences of the people’s guilt. “Sorrows.” Our pains. How did Jesus bear our griefs and sorrows? 1. In His sympathy. 2. By His healing power. “Stricken.” The expression used when God visits a man with severe and sudden sickness, especially leprosy, which was regarded as the stroke of God’s hand and the direct consequence of sin. The leprosy is only a strong image for such suffer- ings as are the evidence of God’s wrath against sin. 5. “Wounded,” ete. But He was pierced because of our rebel- lions, crushed because of our iniquities. The strong verbs pierced and crushed are probably metaphors expressing the fateful ravages of leprosy. “Bruised.” Applied to the body, crushed; applied to the mind, severe inward agony is im- plied. “Of our peace.” The chastise- ment needful to procure peace for us. 6. “Like sheep.” The figure of the stray sheep is common in the Bible. Sheep without a shepherd, having lost their way, are the very picture of help- lessness; and this is the condition of man. ‘Hath laid,” etc. The sorrows that would have fallen upon us be- cause of our sin fell upon Christ. But @hrist was not compelled to suffer for us; He voluntarily made an atonement for sin.” 7. “Oppressed.” This verse shows the treatment He received and how He conducted Himself under it. 8. “Taken from prison.” “By oppres- sion and judgment He was taken away.”—R. V. There are various opin- ions here. Some think that this means that He was deprived of proper judg- ment and trial; others that He was taken away by death and thus finally released from His troubles.” 9. “Made His grave,” etc. An enigma whicn only history could explain. Jesus was put to death with the wicked on the cross, and they thought te. bury Him in a eriminal’s grave. They appointed His grave with the wicked, but by a striking providence the same authority gave permission to a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea, who provided Him with an honorable burial in his own rock- hewn tomb (Matt. 27: 57-60). IV. The Savior rewarded and exalt- ed (vs. 10-12). The main thought in these difficult verses is that the Servant is to be the instrument in establishing the true religion, by removing the bur- den of guilt and bringing many to righteousness. 10. “Pleased the Lord.” The death of Christ was no after- thought; yet Jehovah did not wish His Son pain or evil, neither did He in any sense approve the spirit or deeds of Hig murderers, but He saw that the-salva- tion of a lost race could be xeached in no other way. “His soul.” His life. “An offering.” “A guilt-offering.”—R. V., margin. “His seed.” The true spiritual Israel of the future. Those who by His means are converted to the knowledge of Jehovah. “In His hand.” Under His government or direction. 11. “Satisfied.” He: shall see suck blessed fruits resulting from His suf- ferings as amply to repay Him for them. 12. “With the great” Or among the great. His kingdom shall rule among the nations. “Divide the spoil.” There shall flow to Him and His kingdom the wealth, tiie strength, the numbers, that the strongest nations possess. His Promise Never Fails. Look up and be giad! Our Father knows ali about it, : He has prom- ised help for to-day and all the days, and His promise never fails. He is leading ms inthe ‘rizhi way: and, if we but hold fast to His dear hand, no harm can come to us. Soon the dark- ness will be over, and just beyond we shall see the il sunshine, and tness and glory shall be ours nd railway is active | CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR NOTES SUNDAY, JULY 16. The Message of the Flowers. Matt. 6: 28-34; Jas. 1: 9-11. After centuries of study, man is as far as ever from the power to make the humblest weed, and shall he ex= pect to comprehend and measure God? God does all for the lily that can be done for a lily, but He can do as much more for man as man is more than the lily. Everything grows worn and faded with age except the soul, and that grows ever more lovely. This is one token of immortality. Why has God made the beautiful things of earth so perishable? Be- cause He would turn our thoughts ta the more beautiful things of heaven. Suggestions. It is a flower-like soul that loves the flowers. “Whatsoever things are lovely, think on these things.’ How much more beautiful in our eyes are the flowers we have tended, the Christian graces we have had to cultivate! “The heavens declare the glory of God,” and the ground beneath our feet declares His beauty; and the Bible is the key to both these revela- tions of God. The flower is as lovely to-day, though it must perish to-morrow; but a soul is not, for it .is not made to perish to-morrow. Hlustrations, How great is the difference: be- tween the garden of a beginner and the garden of a skilled gardener! We may all have for ourselves the ex- perience of the great gardener of the universe. : Flowers are kept longest in water if the ends of their stems are clipped every day. So to freshen our lives there is nothing like daily, new con- tact with the Water ‘of Life. If argardener would have large and fire blossoms, he prunes the plants. That is the purpose of whatever dif- ficult pruning God gives His crea- tures. Quotations. Sweet flowers are slow, make haste.—Shakespeare. There is not the least flower but seems to hold up its head and to look pleasantly in the secret sense of the goodness of its heaverly Maker. —South. The plants look up to heaven, from whence they have their nourishment. —Shakespeare. Foster the beautiful, and every hour thou callest new flowers to birth.—Schiller. Every member of the society should have some share in the work of the flower committee. Then it" would be easier for the committee and hap- pier for the society. Every member may be made re- sponsible for at least one Sunday in the year to adorn the church with flowers, getting what help he can, and aided, of course, by the commit- tea. CPIORTH LEAGUE LESSONS SUNDAY, JULY SIXTEENTH. but weeds The Message of the Flowers.—Matt. 6. 28-34; James 1. 9-11. Jesus was a lover of nature. He delighted in the bright sunshine, the blooming flowers, the variegated landscape as do we. It has been a favorite study in all ages to interpret the language of flowers. The various species have been supposed to cons vey a different message in their of- fering. We are not so much concern- ed with the sentimental significance of flowers as. we are in the general lessons that come to use from the frailty, the beauty, and the oh i of the flowers. They carry a Lesson’ of Providence’ If God so clothe the fading flower-and the transient grass of ‘the -fleld, how much more will he care for his! chjly dren. As we walk the fields and the : blooming flowers often’ in pla where no human eye will likely hold them, how suggestive of the p fuse and provident resources of oh for the ‘comfort of his people! ‘ What infinite mechanism in the construe tion of a rose! What skill in the ar- tistic coloring of the wild flower! What gorgeous displays of beauty wasted on the desert air! Yet God does all: this for the pleasure and de- light of his children. How much more will he do for their necessi- ties! They Carry a Lesson of Helpful ness. What a cheer and comfort are in the flowers we send to the sick room. Hows they brighten up the church and schoolroom! With what ministry of comfort they come to the sorrowing and sad! They have a ministry. as sacred as that of the Word. Nature joins with revelation to declare the cdre and love of the Father Their beauty is indicative of the love of God, their fragrance typi- cal of the influence of our lives on others. They are not useless ' and meaningless, but designed to teach us trust in the God who made them. They Bring a Message of Immor- tality. There is more than sadness in the frailty of the grass and the flowers. There is more than death typified in the passing of the flower. There is the underlying thought that if human life be as brief as the flow- er and transient as grass there is a place where there are ‘fields array- ed in living green.” Their very life of a day teaches us that though we may not stay long on the earth we may give out that which will bless and help while we do live. The mem- ory of their .beauty and fragrance re- mains after they are gone. So our life may be short but it may abide in the memory of some life and bless i# after we are gone. The number of insdne in Londem exceeds 20,000. *®
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